11. Air Recovery- Perform an Air Recovery by tapping X while in the air after taking damage.

Entries #12-#17 show the skills and where to find them.

12. Double Jump- Get the DOUBLE JUMP skill (JOE can give you this skill for 100 gems, or you can get it from JOY for 50 gems after having an "air-time" of at least 2.6 seconds.)

13. Dash- Get the DASH skill (FINGERS can give you this skill for 150 gems, or you can get it from FLEET by completing his challenge in under one minute)

14. Regen- Get the REGEN skill (JOHN can give you this skill for 100 gems, or you can get it from MOMMA ROUNDITE for 50 gems by healing 15 damage in one go)

15. Hardiness- Get the HARDY skill (BRAINY can give you this skill for 150 gems, or you can get it from HULKER for 50 gems by getting hit 5 times without hitting the ground. You must use air recoveries to do this)

16. Radar- Get the RADAR skill (SQUARITE JUINOR can give you this skill for 150 gems, or you can get it from NAILS for 400 gems. Just stick with SQUARITE k? :P)

17. The Girl- You start with it.

Codex entries #18-#29 involve talking to certain NPCs.

18. The Boy- Talk to the boy at the beginning of the game.

19. Fleet- Roundite: in the caves under your house.

20. Joy- Roundite: in the storage area at the top of Earth Village.

21. Nails- Roundite: next to the Lava store in Earth Village.

22. Hulker- Roundite: bottom of Earth Village.

23. Momma- Roundite: next to the house in the west of Earth Village.

24. Joe- Squarian: entrance to Sky Village

25. Fingers- Squarian: near gem store room in Sky Village.

26. Gordon- Ghost Squarian: in the church

27. Brains- Fat Squarian: upper level (left) of Sky Village.

28. Junior- Tiny Squarian: upper level (right) of Sky Village.

29. Computer- Use the computer in Sacred Grounds, west of your house. (To get there, give 100 gems to get through the door or jump up through the bottom of the building. You'll need double jump + level 5 jump for this)

30. Mains Water Supply- The switch and machine like thingy in the room above the MAGMA CAVE.

35. Tyrant - Big black enemies that shoot fireballs. In the overground in the area under the church. You have to hit the Tyrant itself (not its projectiles) to get it added to the codex.

36. Shadow - Just go through at least one nightmare boss sequence.

37. My House - You start with it.

38. Overground - Climb to the open area above your house.

39. Tunnels - Climb to the underground area underneath your house.

40. Mine - Cave area on the East edge of the map. Enter from the overground tunnel next to the tower or the MAGMA CAVE or across from the TUNNELS themselves.

41. Magma Cave - Cave at the very bottom of the map, west end. Either climb down the Mine or go across from the Earth Village.

42. Giant Tree - North West corner of the map. Just climb up the tunnel from your house and head west and you'll run right into it.

43. The Tower - East end of the map. One of the trickier places to reach. When starting out the best thing to do is to climb the TREE, hop over the ledges to the CHURCH. Exit near the little grave at the edge and jump down to the lower overhang in the OVERGROUND so you can reach it.

44. Sky Village - Climb to about 3/4 of the way up the tower and it's right there (on the left).

45. Earth Village - South West corener of the map. Either climb all the way down the MAGMA CAVE and work your way west or get double jump and hop over the lip in the cave near your house under the big metal chute coming out of SACRED GROUNDS.

46. Church - North part of the map. Climb up the tree and across the branch sticking out and you can do a few jumps to the church from there.

47. Sacred Grounds - Slighty Northwest of the starting area.

48. Magical Gems - Collect a red gem.

49. Dark Gems - You need to beat the nightmare to get that.

50. Huge Gems - Collect a giant gem.

51. Postboxes - Touch a postbox. There is one right above your house.

52. Lava - You can find this plenty if you just head to the bottom right corner of the map.

54. Lock - The door mechanism just outside SACRED GROUNDS, in the tunnel you can climb to get up to OVERGROUND.

55. Codex - Open the codex window.

56. Internet Awareness- Talk to BRAINS a lot to get this.

BOSS STRATEGY-

Get on a ledge then when it comes to slash double jump to the other ledge and wait for it to run. This way, you have a far better chance the rocks will come and hit it, then rush to where it was hit collect the gems and repeat. When it starts the wave thing of shooting to full arena beams in both directions stay on a ledge. Right before it launches them at you double jump to the center and fall then get back on a ledge and repeat this. That's about all there is too it :)

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Alright, so I know I haven't been on Santa's "Nice" list for this year. That man sees into my dark soul and knows that I'm muttering my unbiased(*Cough cough cough*) opinions about flash games to myself, rather than posting them here. I hope my return to KCG can annul my extremely long hiatus from writing guides and adding to this site. Anyways, that's enough about me. Let's talk about you. Yes, you, Penguin Massacre. From what I hear, you made front page a few weeks ago. Tell us a little bit about that... because, quite frankly, I'd like to know how a game like this got to be of such high rating. I haven't beaten it in its entirety yet, but I plan on finishing the last few levels after this review. At face value, this game is a reasonable way to kill thirty minutes or so, but I have a high standard for shooter/defense games, and this is one fly I plan to swat to the table.

Gameplay: 2.5/5

Penguin Massacre isn't exactly what I'd call innovative in any way. Shooter games tend to follow a simple linear format: Wave - Upgrade/Repair - Next Wave - Rinse - Repeat. Penguin Massacre does this.... All too well. After about ten waves of predictable enemies and repetitive gameplay, you'll either be in your gamer trance, or (if you're more like me) you'll be gripping the sides of your monitor, asking for a mongoose to try to attack your igloo, just out of the sheer shock value. When you get to the ever-so-visited upgrades screen, you'll see that all the upgrades for your guns are identical. You'll only ever be increasing each guns strength, reload and clip size. On top of that, you'll probably never need a Rifleman or Engineer, which leaves them to go off and do whatever it is penguins do when they aren't playing with guns or fixing igloos. If you're finding this game is too easy, that's because it is. Adding an optional thrown weapon (I'd assume molotov cocktails would work great against penguin invaders), a trap system, or just enemies that follow a random pattern. Anyone can hold a target reticle over penguin and watch it die. However, they can only be pushed to do that so many times.

Visual: 4/5

In terms of graphics, I'm finding that Penguin Massacre sets a pretty good standard. When you take out an armored penguin, the explosion is really pretty. Nine out of ten guys will be interested when you tell them explosions are involved, even if they are just simple flash animations. The blood spatters were crafted meticulously and look great for a flash game. The backdrop that these ice-capades are set upon isn't exactly anything special, but I can tell it was drawn with care. There's something to respect in stage that's been set. Another good thing I can say with confidence about this game is that the visuals are neither intrusive nor distracting. And in shooters, this is always a good thing.

Audio: 2/5

Sadly, there's not a whole lot I can say here. The music was probably made with a dusty old 8-track found in Uncle Stinky's basement. The song is about a 30 second loop, with some extra drum track at the end. Drum solos were meant to be cool, not accidental. You are offered a mute button, albeit a hard to find one. Usually, you'd think you could find it on the upgrade screen. That way one could save their hearing while there's an obvious break in the action. It's not there. You can press M at any time to mute, but most of us hunt around for that in-game mute button. It's always more satisfying to take out the sound with a swift click. As for the SFX, we have nothing extremely amazing here. I swear on the Necronomicon I've heard them all before.

Overall: 3/5

After all the bad things I've droned on and on about, 3/5 almost seems too generous. It is, more than half I suppose, and 50% has always been a failing grade. Sheer mediocrity, however, has to be content with a three, because that's all this game is. Pass this game over if you want a good shooter. Bunny Invasion and The Last Stand are both much better, plus they have badges, and I know that's the only reason why we play on Kongregate. I hope this game goes back to the drawing boards before a sequel comes out. I should not have said such a thing. I've jinxed myself into having to play a sequel that will now inevitably come out. Curse you, Fate.

Final Judgement:

Well, I think that's a pretty decent review to bank a comeback on, don't you? Let me know what you think, KCG fans, I'm always looking for creative criticism. I won't ever change my opinions on a game though. Those are set in stone. There's probably a few words in the unedited version that Santa didn't like me muttering to myself though.

Let's hope this Doctor doesn't get a stocking full of coal this Christmas...

Monday, December 21, 2009

From: supergiantsfanTo: SasmsNote:He’s always been a great inspiration on some of the art I’ve done and has gotten me back into the art world after my Kong break. He’s a guy who does favors, and he deserves a gift for himself once in a while!

From:wiggles96To:ZShadowNote: I would like to send a gift to Zshadow Encased is 20 cookies, a Z shaped shadow fire, and a badge that looks like his avatar Note: FOr being an awesome mod and ruling over echonia as a giant furry dragon, and ill always be there in my shadow ragon form to protect you

Sunday, December 20, 2009

- "25 Recent Badges" changed to "25 Recent Badge Games". It seems more useful than seeing the most recent badges, which can easily be seen in a more organized fashion on Kongregate anyway.

- Search bar added! Huzzah!

- Subscription feature added. Compatible with many different feeds, and can apply to posts, comments, or even both.

- "The KCG Crew" section re-done. Now divided into three sections: Administrators, Primary Writers, and Secondary Writers. Primary writers are the frequent posters, and Secondary Writers are those who post from time to time.

From:sarahmanderTo:Magical_ZorseNote:I want you to send a gift to Magical_Zorse, please. He’s always making awesome games and putting down people who can’t use proper grammar. I think he is most deserving of a present!

From:KralisTo:iwannakissthesunNote:I would really appreciate it if you could please give a gift to iwannakissthesun. She’s a very good friend of mine and she is always there to cheer me up when I’m sad and need someone to talk to. At the end of the day, we share a lot of laughs and we make one another smile quite a lot! I’m sure it would mean the world to her if you could deliver her a gift. :)

From:Ljrules95To:KralisNote:he's always there to talk to me on msn, we've had so many conversations about irl stuff. And he's almost like a father to me. I can talk to him about anything.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

I know that KCG's been strangely inactive lately, but all of us here at KCG would like to give you, the readers, a big "Happy Holidays" thank you for staying with us all of this time. Before all else, I think we should all give a warm hug to hipcheck, for being such a wonderful admin and friend.

Now most, if not all, of you guys are probably wondering what this "Give a Gift" thing is about. From now until Christmas, KCG will be letting you guys to "Give a Gift", or give thanks, to any member of your choosing.

All what you have to do is send me a whisper of who you would like to send a gift to, as well as why you think they deserve that gift- Just a few sentences about how that person has touched your life. Whether it be because of how they were always there for you, or because of how they almost made you "lol" on the forums- All reasons are acceptable.

For this Christmas, I'll be the "Santa" who lets all of the gift receivers know about their gift, as well as make a post here about all of the people who sent/received gifts for the day. If you have a user you would would like to send a gift to, just leave me a whisper on my Kongregate profile including the user you would like to send a gift to as well as why you're sending them a gift.

I'll be posting the gifts as soon as they're sent in- so don't hesitate!

Saturday, December 5, 2009

[i]In this Review, I'll be trying out a few things with formatting, and stuff. Please leave comments about how you like it[/i]

"So, kiddos, ready to play with some insanely dangerous firearms?"

And thus, the premise for 'The Gun Game Begins'. If you haven't already, I'll explain to you what the game's core is: "Shoot things, get medals and guns. Shoot some more stuff". This sounds fun and all, but as a flash game, how does it stack up? Today, We will find out, in our review. ---------------------Sound------------------------

For all those who've never heard a gun fire ever in life (me included), the sounds of gunfire are quite good in this game. Still, that doesn't mean it deserves a good point in this category. Why?Because it literally has no other sounds people. Yeah, get used to that pistol fire, because chances are you'll be hearing it for the next thirty minutes or so, probably less, but that's another subject. ---------------------Graphics------------------------It's a game about guns, where did you think the graphics were gonna go, in terms of looking good?...Actually, as bad as you may think these graphics are...they're worse. The hands don't look exactly good, neither do the backgrounds, and then there's the puzzling decision of having the GOOD hand and good background locked, under an achievement system that's more Sisyphean than rewarding (Don't know what I mean? Study your Greek Mythology some more, or google..google's good). Seriously, All but one background is locked with the first unlock-able needing 100 button presses to obtain. As or the hands, you have a choice between 'black' and 'white', with a choice of either displaying a hand of your choice race. Which again, is pretty damn stupid considering that they didn't have to give this choice. I suppose the purpose was to prevent people going "My hand's white, why can't it be black, RACISTS!". When in fact I doubt anyone would've cared about the race of their disembodied hand. In fact, for including this choice, the game's actually became more racist, leeme explain a bit more. When you offer a choice between a black hand and a white hand, you basically simplify everything, and try to fit every race under these two things; OR you admit that you didn't think about the other races, which is pretty racist....Which is pretty weird how a flash game about guns can be racist, but I'll bear on and continue the review. ---------------------Gameplay------------------------Remember the time I brought up that weird unlock-able system an hour ago? Yeah, it's awful, and somehow, it makes up a lot of the game. The pride of a gun game should be playing with all the many different guns. Problem is, you have to unlock most of them. See, this would be fun if some of the achievements had goals like "Reload 100 times", or "Get 57 Expert medals", or even "Fire 200 Glock rounds". How long does the maker of this game think we're gonna play it? A day? Two? To unlock everything, you'll have to play this game a lot, mainly because most of the longass achievements unlock guns which you have to get a specific, generic longass achievement on. And loss of memory for some players is simply unforgivable! Also, did I mention that most of the guns in a FLASH GAME are locked? I think that's important, really important.The many mission of the campaign aren't varied, in fact, they will make you wanna play the game even less...Okay, I think that's enough, time to wrap it up. ---------------------Wrappin' it up------------------------...I don't think I've even said a good thing about the game...we all know where this review is going anyway.

It's a generally unfavorable game, some will like it, but to like this, they will have to get over A LOT of major hurdles, A whole lot.So, that screams 4/10, doesn't it?

Saturday, November 28, 2009

No that wasn't a typo. And with just those 8 words you could probably guess. "Gravitee rip-off". Well yes, that is partially true. But, with a newish concept, better graphics and lots more stuff to aim for, this could eclipse Gravitee itself.

Graphics: 9/10
The graphics are smooth and futuristic, quite like Amberial's and makes the gamelook professional and sleek. Some of the most original graphics I've seen in a game as of late. Gloss makes EVERYTHING better.

Concept: 8/10
It's a great concept, but to be fair, it was just stolen from Gravitee. Although with new ideas such as walls that instantly break your ball, and planets with negative gravity, this wasn't really that much of a change, although it was much better than I expected.

Music/Sound: 10/10With a nice soundtrack that fits the art style, this is perfect for the game. And the fact that it has a mute button, a sad rarity among games today, just adds to the score here.

Difficulty: 10/10While not overly difficult, this game was not redundant due to the interesting and mind boggling possibilities of where you could actually get the ball to go. Level 40 just astounded me at how complex it looked, but how easy it actually was. If you can work out these puzzles easily you won't have a problem until about level 75. However after that, once you think you can do it all, the difficulty gets very high so you can actually have a challenge

Other: 10/10One of the things that set this game apart was that you unlocked levels by collecting an amount of 3 coins each level, and you only need about 2/5ths at the start and more and more until the end, yet you are never required to get anywhere near all of them, allowing you to just skip any annoying levels. Of course, if you are a purist like me, you wouldn't be able to stand leaving those last 20 coins unearned. I also loved how you didn't have to get them all at once, you cou8ld just come back and get the single one you missed last time. It even has specific numbers for you to set the Power and Angle so you don't have to go pixel-hunting.

Overall: 9/10Considering I gave Gravitee an 8/10, that is a pretty good score for a clone. I recommend playingthis game purely for the fun of watching the ball go through incredibly small spaces that you wouldn't think possible. All that without the hours of pixel-hunting that Gravitee takes, and you're in for a fun gaming session.

Some of you may know, but many of are don't- I'm working on becoming a Flash Developer. Myself and a developer for MainFrame_Games joined together and began working on a game for the Stride Gum Contest. Since we're a brand new group, Everlasting Games, we need as much support as we can get from you guys. You can read out blog here, where you'll be kept up-to-date with everything that's going on. You can also go there to gain early access to some of our future game releases.

Friday, November 27, 2009

The game Forest Temple begins simply as all games do, with a loading screen, but not far after that, I think I got sick of the game. After the load finishes, and you click that button, you're treated to what some people may call music. Take a good listen, for it sounds novel now. And it should sound novel throughout your game. The music seems to change every couple of levels or so, I don't know if it's tied to the "three types of levels" mechanic, but it's a change that I'm happy to have.Anyway, the premise of the game is simple, navigate your two elemental buddies(One composed of fire, one of water) through a world filled with harms such as traps of fire, water, and mud (For some odd, yet to be explained reason, mud kills them both). The team mechanic isn't a new one, however, this game put it's own spin on it. Being able to control [b]both[/b] characters at the same time. And this is the main draw of the game, surprisingly, the developers managed to pull it off into some very fun puzzle and action levels. Yeah, I know there was something about 'three types of levels', but there's really two, fortunately, that's okay. Graphics...everybody loves graphics...Save for these ones. They really don't match anything I'd expect from Armourgame's quality, they look like something that a really underpaid, annoyed artist would do, and that's just the backgrounds. The two main characters look quite...err...cartoon-y, not the good type of cartoon-y that hearkens you back to an age where the world was simple and forgiving, the type of cartoon-y that has to grow on you a little while before you ready to look your protagonists in the face. Which is hard to say considering someone probably spent a lot of time on their design, but it must be said.Now, let's talk about the game-play a little more. Puzzles are kinda fun, Action also. But dividing the levels into parts feels like a very arbitrary decision, I suppose it was made so some people can aim down action/puzzle paths, but it sounds better to just combine these two parts together to make a delicious sandwich of gameplay (Note: Do not attempt to eat sandwich of gameplay).Another odd decision about the gameplay that I wanted to speak about would be the fact a even a little, itty, bitty mistake can ruin the entire level. Which is most certainty *not*okay.The control themselves are..okay, I guess, but I still dislike the bounciness of the characters and how stilted the jumps and general movement feels.Now, any good game, flash or otherwise, should be addictive. If you haven't found the pattern that I've made during this review, I'll spell it out here. It's not. Now...on to the list of grievances and positivesPositive:

Multi-character control!

Long...can take up an afternoon

Music remains fresh

Grievances:

Feels like a chore to play

Doesn't feel too pretty on the eyes

Controls are...well, much less than stellar

Arbitrary decision in design

Not much of a story here captain. (Seriously, it's not like it explains itself. A spirit of water and one of fire don't just randomly meet and decide to help each other get diamonds)

Can take an afternoon...only if you're really patient

Now, for the final score. With the positive over the negatives (3/6), you get a general idea of where I'm going. I'd say it's a 6/10. Some people will like it, but they'll have to get over some major hurdles.~Still trying to beat level 4..Winwinwe

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Before I get into the big announcement, I would like to give all of you a big "Happy Late Thanksgiving!", as I go and celebrate my birthday today. :D

As many of you may have noticed, KCG has been pretty active lately, with some new faces posting articles for once. After searching for writers for a few days, I found a great bunch of people who were ecstatic to be joining the team. So, without any further waiting, here are the new writers for KCG!

Winwinwe“Umm, I’m winwinwe. I like to write, and I have done so in a few other situations but the blog I wrote on got canceled. Let’s hope this one doesn’t. Anyway, the interests I haven’t talked about above are drawing, parkour, and psychology. If you have any things you’d like me to write for remember that if it interferes with KCG, I may not be able to do it very fast. You can contact me at carmariosonic@gmail.com”

sellyme"Hey! Sellyme here. You may call me “Awesome” for short though. Anyway, I love playing games, and writing guides is ideal for me, because I like helping people out, and I have ALL impossible badges on Kong. Yes that includes the recently badged Tower of Greed. (Shotgun writing a guide for that). My room on Kong is Feed the Ducks, and don’t be afraid to come in for a chat."

Hoodwinked"Well… My name is Hoodwinked. Call me Hood or Hoody, but absolutely not Winked. It is a pet peeve. Also, I play soccer and love meat. The two are not connected, I don’t believe… Anyways, I’ve been on Kong for over a year, and I am going to enjoy writing for KCG."

BlackBone"I would like to do mostly guides, I am just an average writer but my guides will be mostly tips and images. I am an avid Kongregate gamer(thus the level 43) and enjoy the Kong community."

GHEZ119"I’m GHEZ119, I hang out in “The Vortex”; people can refer to me as “George” if they want, and I aim to write/record guides. Once I get rid of this horrible lag by un-installing a LOT of stuff xD Thanks for the opportunity."

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Well, here it is. I couldn't include the basics and all that jazz for fear of making it too large. It's already pretty big, and a fully inclusive one would be at least double the size. I hope it's okay for my first Blog Post xD

Dragon Age: Journeys Basic Walkthrough

So, this is my first walkthrough. Pretty impressive, huh? :D

Anyway, this isn't a technical walkthrough, with precise information for every battle and whatnot, if you find someone willing to make that, he'd probably die playing the game. THIS is the basic tactics and plans for playing the game, and beating it on Hard, whilst acquiring all the badges.

Also, a final note, this is what worked for me, and some variation may happen. Don't follow this guide like a Bible, just use it to nudge you in the right general direction.

Anyway, first off, your character. I was a Human Rogue, although I don't think the Race makes a massive difference. You'll want Stealth straight away, and that's all that's important really. I also initially picked Below the Belt, but I used it once or twice to try it, and never again. After this, you want to get Deadly Strike. Then, when you hit Level 4, get the next Stealth Skill. At Level 5, get the one after Deadly Strike, and then, at Level 6, get the one after Below The Belt.

Now, you know what to do with your Rogue (I finished the game at Level 6.), but do you know how to use him? That's what I'm here for :)

Equip him with the strongest melee weapon you can find. And a decent bow for back-up.Your basic tactic is to pummel them long-range with a bow, until they approach you. After that, step back, use Stealth, step back to them and attack. Hopefully, you'll get a Backstab damage bonus for being Stealthed. That's the whole point of Rogue, you use your skills to get massive buffs. Plus, this is FREE, because you always get discovered after an attack, and don't use it over the duration of the enemy turn, when it subtracts the Stamina.For Armour, I suppose you could try Heavy, I stuck with Medium, but I don't see why not.

Now, for Ardum. He's the primary mage of your group, and, as such, the main healer. Good fun for him. Equip him with the strongest staff you can find that has decent stat boosts, and items boosting his “Creation Spellpower”, or just general spellpower or Mana. His aim in the game is basically to keep your team-mates alive by constantly healing. Especially the Rogue.You'll want this guy to have Revival for the final fights, and I also got the two at the very top. His most valuable asset is his Healing, so don't be afraid to mix it up if you want, as long as you keep Revival.

Alas, Martine was poor, IMHO. She came in useful when you got her, if you used her Passive Skill (Shortcut Key 3, Precision Strikes or something like that) before attacking, but it's not worth the large amount of Stamina really, as it's pretty rubbish.

Now we come to Ryanth, the Bard. You definitely want him in your team towards the end. What he lacks in Attack Power and his feeble amount of Glancing Blows, he makes up for with his skills, or, really, one of them – Pinning Shot. He's an archer at heart, so make sure one of his Weapon Sets is a decent Bow, and fire this away on those bosses when you're taking out their minions. It lowers their movement range drastically for a few turns, allowing you to easily out-run or out-manoeuvre them.

In case you're wondering, the Bard is the guy standing by the Inn in the main part of town, that always says he has no time for Strangers. Once you hit a certain point, he'll become available to talk to and recruit.

So, that's the tactic. You might be wondering about some of the harder battles.

Since I'm so nice, I'll tell you the tactics as well as I can remember them.

The first difficult battle is the 2 Alpha Genlocks. These are especially annoying for 2 reasons.1 – That stupid rock throw attack they do, which is ridiculously over-powered, and random.2 – You have to fight the Emissary IMMEDIATELY afterwards.

Once you kill one Alpha Genlock, and get the other down to relatively low health, keep your distance and heal up, ready for the Emissary. Kill him at Range, then proceed to the next fight.

Now, for the Emissary, that foul scum that did so slay your father. Show no mercy, attack constantly with your Rogue's Stealth, heal him up with Ardum, and attack from range/near with Ryanth/Martine.

Once this is done, you have 3 more “difficult” fights. The 3 ogres guarding the Darkspawn Machines. What's that I hear you say? “Urgh?” Actually, they're not that bad. Well, the bottom left and bottom right caves aren't.

The basic tactic is:1 – Pinning Shot with Ryanth on the Ogre.2 – Kill his minions with stealth/range.3 – Stealth ambush him with range from Ryanth, and keep healing your Rogue.4 – When Ardum needs to refill his Mana, use the skill you got after Deadly Strike to incapacitate the Ogre, whilst Ardum uses his potion.

The top right one, however, is much worse. 2 Alpha Genlocks and an Ogre. You might want to save this one 'till the end. You have to get quite lucky, I'm afraid.It's the exact same tactic as the other two, just with stupid interference from those Alpha Genlocks rather than easier enemies. You'll want Ryanth alive until those are gone, even if he dies fighting the Ogre. (meatshields FTW?) Then Stealth Attack the Ogre repeatedly, incapacitate him once so Ardum can cast Revival on Ryanth if you want, and keep up the attack until he goes down. And there you have them, all the badges :)

I hope this helps. If you encounter any problems, please don't hesitate to contact me on here, or, preferably, on Kongregate, via my Profile – “GHEZ119”. Thanks for reading :)

Friday, November 20, 2009

Well, to start off with, you need the controls. Now, as you SHOULD be playing on Kong, you can just scroll down, but I'll save you the time

Arrow Keys or WASD to move
Space or J to jump/confirm
Shift or K to use item/cancel
Enter or P to pause
M to mute

Anyway, first off, the easy badge and card. You should be able to get these in one run. I recomend trying to get all the gems for the first 3-4 floors, and if you can't, just play through it a few times to get used to the levels, as they repeat. If you find a bag with a blue thing on it, pick it up to get an item. There are 4 items.

Skull (grey): Kills any enemies on screen, and about an inch allowance on the top and bottom.
Shield (pink): Makes it impossible for enemies/spikes to knock you back. Not very useful.
Gem magnet (green): Attracts all gems on screen, also with a 1 inch allowance.
Hourglass (yellow): Stops time for roughly 5 seconds.

The first time you get each item, use it quickly, to get a trophy each. If you pick up an item bag while you have an item, you will get another trophy. If you use a gem magnet or a skull on nothing, you will get another trophy each. Run into an enemy with frozen time = yet ANOTHER trophy.

Anyway, you should get 25k by about floor 11. If not, you won't be able to leave until floor 15 anyway, so you have plenty of time. After every 5th floor there is a row of 6 Blue gems, so you should have at least 12 by then. I had 28, so it's not hard to do.

So, the hard badge. Actually considerably easy, considering that you can get your first 10-15 trophies in 10 floors, and there are at least 20 that can be accomplished by nothing but getting an item, an timing its use. Check out the trophy page and target each one specifically. If you are good you can get 50 within an hour. If you have trouble, just stop trying to get gems, and go up normally. You should be able to reach at least floor 50, just don't get greedy. By the time you get that high though, you will have collected a lot of gems/floors/item uses for your overall total.

The impossible is actually considerably easy in comparison to others, you just need to know what you are doing. Just follow my protips and get used to the level pattern and it should be cake.

PROTIP 1: Green = $50, Blue = $500 and White = $5000. Don't let that suck you in however. When going for cash, green gems are still worth a lot. Also, never go the for white gem on the staircase like portion of the level. You can't survive unless you get an hourglass powerup. It's not worth it.

PROTIP 2: If you are about to get a new power-up, just use the one you have already. It counts towards a trophy set.

PROTIP 3: Speed is NOT of the essence. If you are going faster than the scroll is, just relax. You will probably just jump into an enemy and not be able to recover if you keep jumping off-screen.

Anyway, that's it for now, see you all next badge set! (Or maybe even sooner o.o)

Thursday, November 19, 2009

"Monkey see-Monkey do"- This is the golden rule throughout this game. Copy Cat is a puzzle game in a style much similar to Factory Balls 2. You'll be using different stencils and color combinations to duplicate the image on the right, onto the empty portrait on the left. Packed with 30 levels of tricky artistic re-creations- Picasso would be proud.

Gameplay: 3.5/5

Visual: 2.5/5 Is that .JPG quality images I see? I mean, come on! The game's pretty centered around art, yet you save your in-game images as low JPG quality? For those of you that aren't aware, .JPG is one of the least recommended image types for smaller images since it lowers the quality drastically. Another thing that bothered me was the actual paintings that you create in this game. They seem too simple for me- They're lacking a point of interest for me.

Difficulty: 3.5/5 Fun? Yes. Difficult? Yes, to an extent. Like I said- you're either the kind of person who "headkeyboards" while playing this, or you're the kind of person who laughs at the simplicity of the puzzles (Although, I doubt you won't be challenged at all). Regardless, this game provides a good time, and offers puzzles of varying difficulty.

Overall: 3/5I wasn't too impressed by this game, despite the ba-jillion things that show throughout the game talking about how great the game is. The artwork is just not impressive! Who saves an art game's art as JP- oh, I mentioned that already. Well hopefully you all learned a valuable lesson today kids. That's right- never do drugs!

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

As always, people dash for the one and five star ratings without considering the "inbetweens" more. Regardless, I thank you all for sharing your opinions about KCG, and I hope you all stay tuned for what's to come. ;P

I have a thing with words. No. Not like an 'affinity' to words or something, whenever I say some words, they strike me as either good or bad.

Now you may be asking how this relates to my review...thing is, I start every review by saying the title of the game out loud while playing it. I can't help it, it's a reflex that I gained from writing comics (You use it to get ideas). Let me get to the point, I like this title, even though the words for the title can be seen as a random throwing together of random things (As is common with flash games).

Okay, now that that's out of the way, time to navigate the main parts of the game. When the game loads, you're treated to a nice menu screen of your little murderer with his back against the wall breathing heavily with a knife. The use of light and reflection really stand out, especially in a flash game.

The tutorial doesn't explain much besides the basic game functions , again, this is one of those games where you must learn how to play by playing. Although the first mission does a nice job of helping you into the waters. The difficulty may ramp up a little soon for some.

And that's it, no story, no explanation of why you can run fast and turn invisible, you're just an assassin in an assassin's world. Now a lot of this review teeters on the fact that I expect a few things from a flash game, the same I'd expect from a full-fledged one.

Anywho, last little gripes...

No story

Special moves may make it easy for some...

...Yet for those who don't use them after a bit, you're in for a world of toughness

Can't kill those guards

From what I've seen, those guards aren't all too intelligent (Seriously, I leave Bloody footprints, and you can't follow them? And you shoot me and leave a pool of blood, yet you don't continue shooting?)

In my opinion, this game is somewhat good, but has quite a few things to hate 6/10The game~Winwinwe

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Epic Battle Fantasy 2, These words should give you a good idea of how good this game is.The game begins with a semi-tongue-in-cheek introduction of the world you explore....Well, to be exact, the game begins with a beautiful picture of our heroes fighting their enemies, complete with blood, dash, and dazzle (Quick point: The game itself took a little long to load, by my connection is obviously not yours).So graphics, obviously good

After the small mound of text, you're dropped into the game, again, the guides are available easily, making this game a bit more accessible than the rest. After your first few fights, you get a feel for the game, knowing when to attack, and which attack to use (Which is good, considering how many actions are available from the onset), Then you get your first boss. Now, if you're on the easier difficulty settings, you'll DESTROY this guy, yet on the harder settings, you need tactics. Smooth curve, Epic Battle Fantasy Designers. You can still be confused, but you'll eventually settle down into a successful pattern Subtle attempts as comedy are either hit-or-miss depending on your preferences, Which is OK.

Now, the mini-game based on the main character's partner is...well...grindy. You could easily amass thousands of monies (hint: off-screen ranged attack), or you could just get bored and stop midway. I think that the money you get is somewhat too little for the time you put in, which is a big annoyance when you need things bad. I also think the prices are a little much (1000$ for an ether and water of life).

Now the thing that brings it all together, your want to play the game. In my opinion, I didn't want to play the game as much as I wanted the achievements, which is bad. The sum of the game's parts should be higher, but I don't think they are.

Take Something Literally is a great game in which the rules are simple. Take every hint that you are given literally, no exceptions. This wonderful combination of simplicity and abstract thinking is great on its own, but it is further appreciated due to the fact that this game also has a badge to boot.

The badge is easy to get and the game is great. What else can I say? Well, I can give you a walkthrough I guess. ;)

Level 1: To remove
There will be a block in the middle of the game that says 'to remove' on it. Simple enough. Click and drag it outside of the game box.

Level 2: Read that
You are met with a blank screen (other than the "Read that" heading). Move your cursor around in the game box until you see your cursor change into the 'word highlight' tool you normally see in Word or Notepad. When you see this cursor, click and drag backwards until you see the hidden message, "Hit spacebar 10 times". Do just that.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Hey everyone- it's been a while since we last posted an interview- but I managed to get one with famous developer and former Kongregate employee damijin!

hokage4354: Howdy damijin.damijin: Hiyahokage4354: So, you're the developer behind the brilliant Pyro series?damijin: It's not that brilliant. It did very well for our first game, but by the standards of the great games out there, it's very mediocre The design itself is strangely enough based on Bloons. I wanted to make a game like Bloons using a fireball, and it occurred that throwing darts at balloons is similar to throwing fireballs at torches.The physics and theme make it seem quite different, but it's really Bloons, in all of Bloons pixel hunting glory (especially in the harder games of the series).hokage4354: It really is a great game though. damijin: Thank you.hokage4354: So great that it even got badges....How did you feel when that happened?damijin: Because the Kongregate community only really cares about badged games, and because the revenue share for developers on Kongregate is so high... I felt like I just made a lot of money.All in all, they earned $2,000 a piece just on ad revenue share.Granted, unlike most games we got 50% share, since we were sponsored by Kongregate. A lot of games only get 35%.But it's just... yeah... if you get badges on Kong, it's a massive boost to your game's total earnings.Aside from that -- I to this day have not earned the impossible badge in the original Pyro. I think it's insane that anyone can, but kudos to those of you with more fortitude than I.hokage4354: Do you have any plans on continuing the series any further?damijin: Eventually we'll do Pyro III, which will feature significant upgrades to gameplay. More physics, so that when you hit a crate you not only light it on fire, but can knock it off a ledge and send it falling onto a torch. Other ideas are objects teathered by ropes that can be burned to make the object fall, and just... general stuff like that to make it more interesting.Also a graphical update.And we'll try to make sure the level editor remains easy to use, even with those new features.hokage4354: Sounds pretty awesome.Earlier this year you posted a thread about your next project, Starfall: 2312. Is that game still being worked on?damijin: We worked on Starfall between Pyro and Pyro II. It was intended to be completed before Pyro II. Unfortunately the project stalled because our original vision for it was too large, with too much content, and we simply couldn't get it finished fast enough to have the game make good revenue.Since Arkatufus and I are a full time flash game team, we needed to cut our losses and do Pyro II instead of finishing it.After Pyro II, we intended to return to it, but we concluded that it would still be too much work to make it a good investment. We've started a new project, but since this Stride Gum competition came out, we decided to enter a smaller version of Starfall into it where you play until you die and try to get a high score.It has no levels or bosses, but it is better than letting our game go to waste. It'll be called Starfall: Survivor, and we'll launch it in the first half of December.hokage4354: Can't wait to see that be released- What type of game is it going to be?damijin: Starfall is a forward scrolling shooter along the lines of Frantic, but the movement is a bit more realistic, and you can dodge attacks by barrel rolling as they are about to hit you. It's done in a 3d engine so that the further away the enemies are, the smaller they get. It has a pretty unique look to it.hokage4354: Doing barrel rolls? 3D engine? Are we talking about starfox here? ;Pdamijin: The game and style are inspired by Star Fox. The gameplay is more like a normal shooter than the obstacle-course Star Fox gameplay, but the opening 3d sequence is very much borrowed from the starting cinematic in Star Fox for the SNES. The "Scramble" scene, I think it's called -- where you launch out of the mountain. In our version you launch out of a large carrier into space though hokage4354: This upcomiing games sounds pretty cool, but what about future releases after this one? Do you have any concepts or designs made?damijin: I'm also working with An Lieu (Ge.Ne.Sis) and David Robinson for the design of their entry to the Stride Gum contest. It's currently titled "Bear Rampage Island" and you play a mutant/cyborg bear created by a mad scientist that charges through an island resort park and brutally destroys the vacationing populace.While rampaging, you dodge pits, crazy giant bear traps, and military helicopters (that you can swat out of the sky with your giant bear paw.)After this contest is over, we'll all get back to work on our biggest project ever, which was started back in September. This has been a little break from that.It's an online card game, and it's going to rock, but I can't say much more than that yet.Unlike the other card games you might be used to, our game will allow trading, have avatars that you can advance, and hundreds of rare, uncommon, and common cards to collect.hokage4354: It sounds like it's going to be epic! It seems like we're all out of time, but before we go I need to ask one final question...damijin: Surehokage4354: A question so devasting, that it has even made the toughest men break into tears and scream like little girls...damijin: Mmhmm...hokage4354: Sugar gliders or pygmy hedgehogs? Well? Hey, uh, damijin, you there buddy?damijin: I got bored during the windup to that questionand took a napSugar Gliders all the way.I almost made a Sugar Glider bomber game where you drop bombs strapped to the belly of your Glider hero and destroy the terrible hedgehogs that infringe on your land.hokage4354: You sould have. ;)Well, thanks for your time damijin.damijin: You're quite welcome.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Level 1: Click on the Rabbit 4 Times, in order to make him reach the Ground Level, and take the carrot!Level 2: Click Owl 3 Times [Right-Side on the tree]. Once the Pear is visible, Click it, to get it!Level 3: Click on all of the Bulbs/Lights from the start (Left-Side), Except the middle one:X = Click0 = Don’t ClickX X X O X X XOnce Apple is visible below the last Bulb/Light, click to take!Level 4:Click on the Tree [Right-Side] 3 Times, when a leaf falls down touching the acorn, click the Acorn right after it touches the acorn. Hopefully, the Acorn will land on the leaf once it’s on the water. Then, quickly click on the Rock right in the middle of water, to clear the leaf’s way. Once done, the Rabbit will take the Acorn!And remember that that leaf comes every 3rd Click on the Tree, and make sure the Acorn lands on the leaf when the leaf hits the water!

Level 5:Move your Cursor [the White Arrow you move with your Mouse] over the Balloon, and keep it there. As the Balloon starts to move, also move your Cursor, and keep moving it on the Balloon, until the Rabbit takes the Apple! When Cursor is on the Balloon, the Balloon’s size will increase. Once it’s huge enough to lift the Rabbit, it’s starts moving slowly up. Then it suddenly heads Between Left & Up [North-West], and when it’s near the Tree on Left-Side, it will start heading Between Right & Up [North-East]! And it will keep heading that way, until the Rabbit grabs the Apple.

Level 6:You see those two Rocks on Left-Side [on the Ground - small & big]! Drag the Small one where the Rabbit is, and the Big one where the pear is. Perfect Balance - the Rabbit will grab the Pear!Level 7:You can see 5 Bulbs/Lights on the Black Wheel. Click all of them, and then turn the Wheel Counter Clockwise [Search Google Image] by holding your Mouse on the Right-Side of the Black Wheel, and then drag it Counter Clockwise as a circle to Left!Spin the Black Wheel until you only see 6 Turned Off Bulbs/Lights [Black], and you don’t see any of the Bulbs/Lights you turned On from the other side. Then,turn On Bulb from Left to Right - 1, 2, 4 & 6! Once done, turn the Black Wheel Counter Clockwise a bit more, so that you see another Turned Off Bulb/Light, Right to the Bulb/Light nr. 6 - turn that one on, and the 3 Main Bulb/Lights will be turned on. Finally take the Acorn! And if you don’t follow my order, you’ll maybe get lost. And there are 2 or 3 Bulbs/Lights that will turn Red once they are turned On, so be careful or you might just ruin everything. But, once you know which Bulbs/Lights are Red, you can easily turn all the others on!

Level 8:Move your Cursor at the Bottom of the screen, and then on the Owl on Bottom of the Tree. From that point, really slowly move your Cursor to the Top. At some points between the bottom and top, you’ll notice that the Owl [Bottom/Top] will be gone! Once that point is revealed, keep your Cursor on the point, and slowly move your Cursor to the Left. Don’t lost track of the point where the Top/Bottom Owl is gone, and once you’ve found the Point where the Left/Right Owl also disappears, the Cursor will change into a Hand. That means there is a button at that point, click the button to get the Apple - or simply read the following! You see that the Rabbit is thinking of an Apple. There is a big bubble, inside is an Apple. And for that big bubble, there are 2 small round ones. Move your Cursor between the first round bubble circle, and the end of rabbits ear! Slowly move your Cursor from that Point and to the Middle of the Tree (don’t leave the x-axis = Left/Right). When you’re at that point, slowly move your mouse around that point, and hopefully you’ll find the button

Level 9:There are 5 Points, the 1st one is above the Left-Side Bulb. And the 5th one is above the Right-Side Bulb = P1 - P2 - P3 - P4 - P5P = PointP1 = Point 1P2 = Point 2P3 = Point 3P4 = Point 4P5 = Point 5here are Owls on P2, P3, P4 & P5! Move Owl on point P2, then P3, then P4, and at last P5. Then click on the Owl at P1, then P2, and then P3. Click on P4, then P3, and then P2. To active those 2 Bulbs/Lights, click Owl on P4 & P5!Once done, take the Acorn!

Level 10:You see the Tree above you. Well, it’s fake! It’s actually clouds - 2 Clouds!Drag both of the Clouds above you, far away. Quickly take the Apple on Tree above you [Right-Side of the Tree], to take the Apple!

Level 11:Look at the Owl’s Eyes, and you’ll notice that some of them are closed. Click on the Bulbs/Lights below the Open Eyes!X = ClickO = Don’t ClickX O X X X O O XOnce done, another Bulb/Light will be turned On, and below it - an Acorn. Take the Acorn!

Level 12:his one is quite challenging, so please follow me as much as you canThe Adult Rabbit = Big RabbitThe on in Middle of Big & Small = Middle RabbitThe Child Rabbit = Small RabbitAnd I’ve added some letters after each 6 steps (first one is only 5 steps), just to make it easy for you to follow!Big Rabbit = BMiddle Rabbit = MSmall Rabbit = SClick on the Follow Rabbits:

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Well, unlike previous years, Kongregate will not be having a special banner (Aww!). Instead, they were sponsored by the makers "Left 4 Dead 2", and have a special "Survivors VS Zombies" event. Read more about it here.

If you aren't in the Halloween spirit from the awesome event going on, then maybe some of these recent Halloween themed games will be of interest to you:

2:Agh! Zombies!by slixmediaDescription: Its 2012 and doomsday is near, the streets are filled with brain eating zombies! Try to survive the apocalypse in London in this frantic side scrolling zombie shooter!

4: Pumpkin Removerby TheGameHomepageDescription: Remove the rotten pumpkins in this spooky Red Remover expansion pack. Features all new levels and a new look especially for Halloween :) Happy Halloween everyone!

Monday, September 28, 2009

Hey everyone. Most of you have seen my previous post concerning Rainbow Month, and I'd just like to announce that the occasion has ended. It won't be until next year that this tradition comes around again, but I'll certainly be there when it does come alive- hopefully by another user willing to carry on the rainbow torch that has affected many so deeply.

Well anyway- the turn out was AMAZING for the 2nd annual Rainbow month! I've been keeping track over the month, and I spotted a total of one hundred and seventeen (117) users with a rainbow avatar at some point during the event! That's the best turnout for ANY event so far. There was also about thirty-eight (38) users who kept the rainbow avatar for the entirety of the month- So "HUZZAH!" to those that were that dedicated.

Well everyone, I hope you've all enjoyed this as much as I have- see you all next year!

Sunday, September 27, 2009

A Quest for Idle is an idle game. Idle games are games that are played while doing other stuff (checking e-mail, being on forums, etc.), and the purpose of these games is that you get more items, experience, points or something similar the more time you have been "playing" it. AQfI (A Quest for Idle) is a different idle game, you're a knight and you must defeat opponents (other knights and animals) to get more experience. The more experience you get, the higher level you are. You can buy swords, potions, powders and even new haircuts which make this game more fun to play. There are also 5 in-game badges and high-scores which make you want to play it more time than any other game for a while.

Gameplay: The whole point of idle games is to not play it, but do other stuff while having the tab with the idle game on. But if you play it, it's quite enjoyable as you can buy stuff depending on how much money you have won. But if you watch how your knight fights, it's like watching a nice animation video from a video sharing site; the animation of the knight fighting is not bad, as there isn't any blood or cuts. The fight between you and the opponent is a very well elaborated turn-based battle. 0.8 (out of 1).

Graphics: The graphics have been very well done by the developer. He made it in a cartoony way and has not drawn much, yet it's nice. Just with hair, shield, sword, eye and armor he has made them simple yet awesome. The knight's armor, sword and eyes have been very well created and seem kind of real. Also, the potions, powders, font's text and everything else are good. Very appealing graphics. 0.9.

Difficulty: It's not difficult, if these sort of games were, no-one would play them. All you must do is check it once in a while, save progress and if you can, buy new items (especially sword). But it will be difficult if you waste your money on useless stuff, obviously, so try to save up for swords. 0.8.

Sounds: I have to say that this game doesn't have any music or sounds at all... It would be nice if it had peaceful forrest music when you're knight's walking (this game is based in a forrest) and war music when they battle. I would also like it more if it had sound effects when you hit your opponent, but it doesn't, so I have to downrate this section. But, you must also think in the idle way, you're listening to music online or something, but that won't make it much better. 0.1.

Replayability: Its replayability is very high, as players really like to achieve high-scores and the in-game badges too. Once you play it once, it's almost guaranteed that you'll play it yet again and again. It can be repetitive at some points, and you may think at sometime that the prices of sowrds are very overrated, but you just get on with it. But sadly there is one day that you just forget about the game for a long while and you don't play it again... 0.8.

Total rating for this game...: AQfI in general is a very very good game. You'll really enjoy it for a while. If you have ever played Idlekips you'll like this one much more. I'm enjoying this game a lot at the moment and I hope you like it too! My rating:3.4 out of 5. (average rating of Kongregate as of 27.09.09: 3.26 out of 5)